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The Tharthrallyd
One of the youngest, weakest, and smallest illithid cabals, this organization is named for its founding council, a tharth of five illithids (in the tongue of illithids, a tharth is a bold new idea or a valuable scheme worth pursuing long-term), and for the thralls that the tharth hoped to use as agents in a manner that is more sustained, wide-ranging, and trusted than illithids had hitherto employed. The tharth who head this new and swift-rising group are the illithids Koroambyr (“Kore-ROAMbeer”), Klagalauklath (“Kuh-lag-all-AWK-lath”), Jyrimproak (“JEER-im-pro-kh”), Iyritkolankh (“Ear-IT-coe-lank-hh”), and Waeryuardlur (“Way-er- YOO-ard-yuh-lur”). They all have young, tall, gaunt bodies and are restless with blazing energy that makes them pace and fidget whenever they can’t be moving and doing things. They see the best way forward for their race to be controlling the politics of the surface Realms, covertly ordering kingdoms as they see fit from behind the thrones, so as to allow them to harvest brains here and there, very much as the tender of a woodlot would harvest this or that tree in such a way that a varied and lively remainder would flourish and multiply. They see other mind flayers, who pursue other interests, to be a problem that will need to be dealt with in time to come, if they haven’t seen and accepted the superiority of the Tharthrallyd way— but that time will only be when influence over the surface lands is so advanced and solid that such secondary matters can be attended to. Unless, of course, those unenlightened mind flayers imperil the establishment of Tharthrallyd rule or otherwise make dangerous nuisances of themselves. The Dungeons In point of fact, there is no typical dungeon in this category. What follows are samples of the wide variety of discoveries that have been reported. In Ankhapur, Delnar’s Holes are named for Ithrel Delnar, the sinister, long-vanished former innkeeper of The Roosting Falcon inn, a large, old, well-favored downtown hostelry. Like many a brusque but successful city innkeeper, Delnar was rumored to be involved in smuggling and kidnapping. In his case, some of these tales were true. The cellars of the Falcon gave into deeper cellars guarded by silent and unsleeping guards that (during searches prompted by Delnar’s disappearance) were discovered to be zombies guarding rooms that held casks of expensive wine and other exotic luxuries without tax seals. The Holes are rumored to be deeper warrens of rooms whose connections to Delnar’s undercellars have now been discovered. These deeper chambers are said to be inhabited by fearsome monsters that have for years been gathering treasure—the valuables of those citizens of Ankhapur who tried to swindle them in business dealings. Traps are many, and some of the denizens happily dine on human victims. Arabel’s mildewed storage cellars have always been used by furtive cults and rebels plotting the rise of Arabel as an independent city or as the capital of a risen northern kingdom free of the yoke of Cormyr. Now recent rumors insist that someone “deeper” has carved extensive tunnels that link dozens of these cellars to a newly constructed underground labyrinth. In those underways, dubbed “the Beneath” in most of the tales making the rounds of Arabel’s taverns, lurks something fell that lies in wait for overly inquisitive War Wizards whom it defeats easily by spell-assaulting their minds. Several Crown mages are said to have been subverted to work against their fellows or to slaughter Purple Dragons and adventurers exploring the catacombs. A deadly idol of some sort (tall and of dark stone, but descriptions vary wildly) stands in a room at the heart of the labyrinth; it can be manipulated to unlock doors and defuse traps in the Beneath by those who learn its secrets. Elturel’s Treasure Deeps seem to consist entirely of existing cellars beneath the grandest central buildings of the city, but they are linked by doors hidden behind false walls. The catacombs are used by local thieves to cross the city undetected and to hide from pursuers. They are gaining notoriety as the owners of the cellars discover more connections to adjoining cellars—and large caches of coins, gems, and trade bars behind the false walls. This has prompted some of the bolder landlords to hire adventurers as bodyguards to escort them on far-ranging explorations that begin in their own cellars but press on as far as their courage allows through the Deeps. Thrill-seekers were formerly many, but trade has slackened since explorers started to disappear; or, more correctly, to partly disappear, since various pieces of some of them have been left at doorways for unknown reasons. Iriaebor’s extensive underways have long been used by the thieves of the city, complete with rumors of connections to the Underdark, but now these tales have been spiced up with something new: accounts of rooms shrouded in an eerie magical gloom that deadens all sounds, veils lights into feeble glows, and swallows intruders—perhaps literally, as many who venture into the silent rooms simply disappear, never to be seen again. What has been seen, on rare occasions (when heavily armed expeditions have made forays into the gloom) are strangling tentacles that appear out of thin air to break joints and limbs, twist off heads, crush windpipes, and then vanish as swiftly as they came. Speculation as to what is causing the gloom is rife, but one tale or claim seldom agrees with another. Theories range from drow experimenting with new magic, to a cabal of liches, to a tentacled monster of awesome size that can merge with stone and earth and sprout parts of its body out of solid rock at will. Urmlaspyr has a long-established network of damp, shallow storage cellars, just one layer deep, under its oldest buildings. Fears of flooding kept anyone from joining their cellar to others, and springs seeping through the stone kept such cellars small. They lacked a collective name, and locals never thought of them as a lower level of the city. It now appears that someone has set about surreptitiously connecting the existing cellars with a sprawling, seemingly random web of rough, newly dug passages that extend far inland, into dryer rock, with some passages that ascend to hidden surface connections in wooded, wild areas and others that descend into the Underdark. These new delves are prowled by all sorts of hungry, hunting monsters, but the beasts are bewildered as to how they got into the tunnels and seem to be searching for ways out rather than for new lairs. Who built the tunnels, and why, is a matter of wild conjecture. Whoever did it has thoughtfully deposited large chests of current coins in many places in the new passages. Yhaunn’s bowl-shaped terrain has always featured multilevel buildings ascending the steep hillsides around the harbor, penetrating into the surrounding rock as far as owners can afford to dig. The city’s busy port trade rewards those who dig out rentable storage space. Collectively known as the Backs, these areas are seldom connected, because each additional connection is a potential entry point that must be guarded against thieves. Delvers sometimes breach neighboring cellars unintentionally, whereupon a stout stone wall is usually constructed, to the satisfaction of both property owners. Recently, gory murders and disappearances of building owners on the north side of the city were followed by the discovery of freshly dug tunnels extending into the solid rock. Most who dared to explore them have not been seen again, but the few who have returned say the tunnels reach a row of monster-filled, deadly chambers that pass through a series of locked, trapped gates up to the cellars of some of the city’s grandest buildings. Speculation is rampant that the owners of those buildings might control the labyrinth or that those owners might have been replaced and are now being impersonated by the creatures responsible. The Haul Thus far, the Alluring Dungeons have captured scores of adventurers—both desperate novices and capable veterans, but more rogues and warriors than clergy or arcane spellcasters. The Tharthrallyd have used hired wizards (whom they intend to soon eliminate, to safeguard their secrets) to teleport these adventurers to cities far from the dungeons they were captured in. There, the adventurers are met by Tharthrallyd members disguised as humans who want to hire them for a variety of tasks, all devised to eliminate rivals to rulers and officials the Tharthrallyd already influence or believe they can easily come to control. The Tharthrallyd are patient and quite willing to nurture and covertly aid their pet adventurers for years, so long as said adventurers don’t offer them treachery or defiance. The adventurers can build bright careers for themselves—while in the shadows behind them, the Tharthrallyd whisper into the minds of king after lord after wizard.11 Notes 1. Notably the cities of Athkatla, Selgaunt, and Suzail. In Athkatla, see either Herrevore Tlananther (“HAIR-rev-vore Tul-AN-an-thur”) on Runesails Street or Klasimiyr Glorist (“KLAZ-ih-meer GLOREist”) on Manycoins Broad for tours of the Dark Depths. The competing guides keep to different sides of the River Alandor. It is generally considered that Tlananther’s north bank underways are grander than Glorist’s south bank dungeon; tunnels connect them, but they are flooded and fouled by drowned bodies. In Selgaunt, tours are offered by Raldro Hammerbeam, a garrulous and amiable retired dwarf sea captain, who works with many of his former crew guiding patrons through the underways of the city. In Suzail, Laraelra Snoontam (“Lah-RAIL-rah Sn-NOON-tamm”) of Upbanners on the Promenade is the woman to see for a tour of the damp, low-ceilinged Sharraskways (named for a possibly mythical local smuggler). Be advised that undercover Crown agents are said to take many of the tours and scribble notes on who goes touring Suzail’s underways. 2. All of the tour operators offer old, odd coins claimed to have been found in the dungeons as souvenirs. Even those purchasing them often murmur the adage “Claims are easily made.” 3. In Arabel, the Thronedrench Knife, a shadowy gang dedicated to the overthrow of the Obarskyrs, are said to meet in the underways to discuss what courtier to murder or which Crown vault to plunder next. In Athkatla, Urmlaspyr, and Yhaunn, local groups of thieves use the dungeons to meet, confer, and exchange stolen goods: the Harnrath (nobles and wealthy who steal from other nobility and wealthy) in Athkatla; the Hands in Shadow in Urmlaspyr (smugglers who seek to profit by arranging shortages to drive up prices all over the Dragonreach; despite their name, they have nothing to do with shades, the city of Shade, or Shar); and Treldron’s Boys in Yhaunn (thieves and spies who deal in gleaning information or planting it in the right ears, for pay; despite their collective name, every last one of them is female). 4. More often, the winner gains territory (an area of land or a group of people, such as the population of a place or all of a particular clan or guild or allied group of families) and the loser withdraws from it— until they dare to join battle again, of course. 5. That is, human cities where illithids have influenced the minds of those in power. In many cases, these rulers and senior courtiers are unaware they are being manipulated or controlled. In all cases, the mind flayer influence is hidden from the wider world, with the citizenry either entirely unaware of it or at most experiencing only a vague sense that something is not right. 6. Maurokhra delhurlra (in Common, “new breed”) is the term for this sort of lifestyle among illithids, who have always operated in the World Above (the surface Realms) but traditionally were based in the Underdark and returned there to mate, confer with kin and allies, cache treasure, and reach decisions of governance among their kind. 7. Fyrd (“FEAR-d”) means “of the cause of ” or “devoted to” or “bound up in” among illithids. Lyn means “kin of ” or “bloodsworn to,” and faer refers to the rogue illithid Faeraerus the Wanderer, who defied the elder brain of the Underdark city it belonged to and set forth on its own to “live in the world in a new way.” Faeraerus disappeared some centuries ago and is presumed dead. In fact, it traveled the surface Realms and decided that living hidden in the heart of bustling human-dominated cities along the Sword Coast offered the most rewarding life for a mind flayer. Returning to the Underdark, it gathered like-minded illithids and led them upward to Athkatla and other Sword Coast ports to tend herds of minds there. 8. Among illithids, braerl are “those similarly inclined” or “those who share an enthusiasm.” Ambrith was an illithid who loved to impersonate many humans of different social standings, professions, and genders, and sought to know the full range of human experience. Ambrith worked to perfect the ability to leap from mind to mind, controlling many host bodies in succession—moving from one to another so swiftly that it could effectively control all of them at once. Ambrith is believed to have been destroyed by the spells of a hired outlander mage in a skirmish near Marsember, where its last act was attempting to leap into the mind of one of several War Wizards of Cormyr who were fighting on the other side of the battle. Lingering doubts about Ambrith’s ultimate fate is why Ambraerl members try to avoid, and never, ever to kill, any Wizard of War, if at all possible. 9. In the tongue of illithids, irael means “those pursuing the same goal” or “of one accord/idea/ philosophy.” Iringrar (“EAR-ring-gar”) was a mind flayer who believed that the most powerful human or elf wizards had the most developed, lively, and therefore delectable brains, and that devouring the right wizard brains in a carefully planned sequence would enable a prepared illithid to gain the magical knowledge and capabilities of those brains. Iringrar perished almost a century ago when it tried to devour the wrong mage’s brain and got blown to flaming dust for its troubles. 10. As aforementioned, lyn means “kin of ” or “bloodsworn to” (and thanks to how illithids begin life and take over the bodies of others, kinship is more often something declared rather than a matter of birth heritage). Ortholor was an illithid who preferred monster brains to those of humans. It gathered a large array of monsters around itself, then tried to found monster-ruled realms in many places across Faerûn. Thanks to the predatory nature of the monsters and the reactions of neighboring creatures, these were all short-lived. Ortholor itself was destroyed, along with all of its remaining force of monsters, by wizards defending Aglarond, after Ortholor’s arrival was mistaken for the latest Thayan attack. 11. If the Tharthrallyd plans proceed as currently envisaged, they will avoid only the minds of priests and organized guilds or cabals of wizards, who might detect the illithids’ influence and begin working against it before the creatures’ grip is sufficiently strong and widespread. Everyone else of power and authority will be under the sway of the Tharthrallyd eventually—one vast and carefully tended herd. Although the typical mind flayer encountered in the Realms is a lone kingpin that gathers and leads a group of expendable lesser allies and thralls, there are also cabals of illithids and groups of mind flayers that work with doppelgangers, beholders, and other formidable creatures as near-equals. Some of these groups hunt in the wilds and dominate frontier towns, caravanserais, and trade moots, but the majority lurk in large, human-dominated cities, among the “cattle” whose brains they devour. They will fight fiercely to defend their turf, but they won’t battle recklessly when retreat is more prudent. All illithids believe themselves intellectually superior not only to all other types of creatures but to all other illithids as well (excepting their deities and elder brains). Despite their megalomania, mind flayers are neither deluded nor ignorant of the world or its practicalities. They recognize that others might be physically stronger, more numerous, better organized, or more potent in magic than themselves, without yielding an inch in all-important superiority. Moreover, mind flayers view themselves as farmers assembling (sometimes breeding, always improving) herds of lesser beings for later use. Wanton slaughter, fomenting wars, and allowing disease to spread only wastes resources; humans (in particular, but all sentient races to one extent or another) are to be tended and have their affairs subtly guided to yield the maximum number of healthy, lively brains. Strife between mind flayers is largely conducted through thralls (often coerced, manipulated, or mind-controlled monsters) and behind the scenes in arranged contests akin to duels where the sides agree that the victors will command and be exalted, and the losers will be subservient—for a time.4 In the Heartlands of the Realms, a confrontation is brewing between several long-established, ambitious Underdark cities of illithids (with their surface-based thralls and mind-conquered cities5) and a new breed or more properly new style6 of mind flayers: small, fairly close-knit and harmonious illithid groups that live in the surface Realms, usually hiding their true guises so they can dwell in human cities. These “new breed” cabals tend to be mobile and to operate with a wide reach (their members travel across Faerûn, rather than staying within a city and dominating it). They go by such names as the Faerlynfyrd, the Ambraerl, the Iringrael, the Ortholyn, and the Tharthrallyd. The Faerlynfyrd7 are numerous and wellestabished. They are strongest in Amn, but have used the caravan routes Amn dominates to spread to Scornubel, Iriaebor, Riatavin, and Saradush. They have worked on achieving covert dominance over Calimshan for some time, but they have encountered fierce resistance from the genies and genasi and from a rival race already bent on covertly dominating the Calishites: the rakshasas. The Ambraerl8 enjoy the climate and terrain of Cormyr and the Dales and find the humans who thrive there to be the choicest cattle. Few in number but wise in the ways of the surface world and able to hide their true natures very well, these illithids live among humans (particularly the nobility of Cormyr) and work to subtly steer their humans away from frequent warfare by knitting them together ever more tightly with bonds of trade and common interest. Ambraerl illithids tend to find humans entertaining, even amusing, and believe that letting humans have maximum freedom with few laws, light enforcement, and wide social tolerance rather than enforced conformity will lead to future gains in the quality of their brains. The Iringrael9 were formerly deeply embedded among the Red Wizards of Thay, but as undeath rose to greater prominence, they worked to take the maximum number of apprentices and lowly Thayan mages right out of the Red Wizards. The Iringrael mentally manipulated their new herd into disguising themselves and starting new lives, so their brains would remain alive and palatable, not undead and revolting. The Iringrael often start new secret societies among wizards all over Faerûn and work to keep laws and rulers’ control over mages everywhere as light and weak as possible. The Ortholyn10 are few but personally powerful. They tend to avoid cities, because they believe that the brains of humans who crossbreed with monsters or whose bodies have been magically changed into monstrous forms are the most desirable. Accordingly, they dwell wherever they can bring about such matings or influence others into doing so (traditionally, they were at work in the Border Kingdoms and the Bandit Kingdoms, not to mention the Wizard’s Reach; nowadays, they can be found anywhere on the fringes of civilized society, particularly where swamps, jungles, or dense woods offer cover and lairs for monstrous crossbreeds. Most Ortholyn work alone but aid each other whenever they meet or see a benefit for their herds in cooperation. Category:Psionic organizations